who should apply

Are you an emerging food entrepreneur starting up your business? Do you need support to take your offering to the next level? Then read on.

The Kitchen Project is looking for entrepreneurs who are focused on building their business locally and are committed to healthy food processes and ingredients to improve access to healthy foods in the community. We also want candidates who are committed to sustainable business practices.

The programme is designed to help turn talented home cooks into successful food-business ventures.

The programme offers a mix of classroom and hands-on experience through our commercial kitchen space available to rent on site as well as access to a strong network of business experts and mentors with established careers in the food and beverage industries.

Participants must be willing to commit nine hours per week for the first six-weeks of the programme, and two to three hours per fortnight for the remaining 20 weeks of the programme.

Our West Auckland site is based at Te Manawa, 11 Kohuhu Lane, Westgate , and our South Auckland site is based at the Due Drop Events Centre, 770 Great South Road, Wiri. We are headquartered at 135 Albert Street, Auckland CBD. Applicants to the programme will need to ensure they can attend sessions at one of our locations.

Selection criteria

Food entrepreneurs will need to meet the following criteria:

Be business ready

  • Have a food product or service that you want to commercialise.

  • Be based in Auckland and plan to operate in the area, with a commitment to growing the food culture of the community.

  • Be in a position to financially support your involvement in our programme.

  • You will enter a contract with the Kitchen Project that outlines programme expectations, such as the hours you will be expected to commit and a publicity agreement.

  • Be committed to:
    – The community (your employees and staff).
    – Environmental sustainability (production, packaging, processing, types of ingredients and food waste).
    – Healthy food (your ingredients and food processes).

Be personally ready       

  • Be willing to learn and evolve the business to become commercially viable.

  • Be hardworking, dedicated and able to work with others in a shared learning and work space.

  • Be willing to share and be transparent about your business, including financial information.

  • Be able to commit to the required hours for the programme.

  • Have what it takes to grow and thrive in the food industry.

how much does it cost?

It is free to apply to the programme. If your application is successful, the programme will cost $50 a month.

Over a 26-week period the total cost for food entrepreneurs is $300 plus kitchen time. This does not include insurance or business registration and verification.

Use of our commercial kitchen during the development programme will be charged at an hourly rate, reduced by half from commercial kitchen rates.

You can continue to use our kitchens after you graduate as long as you continue to pay your membership fee of $50 a month.

You will be responsible for all the costs your business occurs over and above this.